Khulna Power rules week’s turnover chart at DSE

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Khulna Power Company Ltd (KPCL) continued to dominate the Dhaka bourse’s weekly turnover chart last week despite four days trading.

According to statistics available with the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), about 11.44 million shares of KPCL were traded, generating a turnover of BDT 1.13 billion, which was 4.35 percent of the week’s total turnover.

Meanwhile, the board of directors of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) suspended the trading of KPCL from Wednesday just three days after a corporate sponsor of the electricity producer announced to go for selling off 18 million shares.

The DSE believes such a huge sell-off through the regular market may affect the general investors, said a director of the DSE preferring anonymity.

On last Sunday, Summit Corporation disseminated news through DSE website that it would sell 28.34 percent of its total holding of 63.7 million shares of KPCL at the prevailing market price in the next 30 workdays.

If any sponsor of a company goes for such huge sell-offs, they should do it through the block market, said the director. “Otherwise, the general investors as well as the market get affected.”

The announcement of the sell-off came at a time when KPCL’s share price almost doubled—from BDT 67 to BDT 139.3—in a gap of only two months, he said.

Recently, the board of directors of Khulna Power Company has recommended 30 percent cash and 10 percent stock dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2018.

In 2017, the power generation company disbursed 55 percent cash dividend in 2017.

The final approval of dividend will come during the annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled to be held on December 09 in Dhaka. The record date is on November 22.

The company has also reported earnings per share (EPS) of BDT 6.18, net asset value (NAV) per share of BDT 26.87 and net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) of BDT 2.09 for the year ended on June 30, 2018 as against BDT 5.07, BDT 26.20 and BDT 4.78 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

The power generation company’s share price closed at BDT 98.40 each on Tuesday as the company’s trading was suspended from Wednesday, losing 12.06 percent over the week.

Recently, Credit Rating Information and Services Ltd (CRISL) has rated the company as “AAA” in the long-term and “ST-1” in the short-term along with a stable outlook based on audited financial statements of the company up to June 30, 2017.

The company’s paid-up capital is BDT 3.61 billion, authorised capital is BDT 7.0 billion and the total number of securities is 361.28 million.

The sponsor-directors own 70.59 percent stake in the company while institutional investors own 9.44 percent, foreign investors 0.76 percent and the general public 19.21 percent as on September 30, 2018, the DSE data shows.

Intraco Refueling Station was also included in the top ten turnover chart with shares of BDT 574 million changing hands, followed by Saiham Cotton Mills BDT 530 million and Dragon Sweater BDT 505 million.

BBN/SSR/SR

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